The film adaptation of the Tony-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” was released in theaters nationwide on September 24.
With music by composing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, “Dear Evan Hansen” debuted on Broadway in 2016. The story centers around Evan Hansen, an anxious teen struggling to fit in. When a letter Evan had written for himself ends up in the hands of a fellow classmate, Connor Murphy, who later commits suicide, Evan finds himself caught in a lie that himself and Connor were close friends. In reality, Evan and Connor barely knew each other.
I saw “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway in 2017 and was fortunate enough to see Ben Platt in what would eventually become his Tony-winning role of Evan Hansen. Platt had received widespread praise for his portrayal of Evan and after seeing his performance on stage, I concurred with these sentiments. Platt’s commitment to the character and powerful vocal ability felt like a once-in-a-lifetime performance to witness. Platt reprised his role in the film adaptation and it was just as pitchperfect as it was on stage.
One of the main criticisms prior to the film release surrounded Platt’s age. When the first trailer for the film was released, audiences said Platt looked too old to be playing 17-yearold Evan Hansen. I did not see this as an issue upon watching the film, since all the other actors around Platt were similar in age, so the age difference between Platt and his character was not as noticeable as online critics made it seem. Also, actors in their 20s and 30s have been playing teenagers on screen for decades, so I don’t think the criticism regarding his age should have been as big of a deal as it was. Additionally, three songs that were part of the Broadway cast album were cut from the film. “Anybody Have a Map,” the stage production’s opening number, was cut from the film, which surprised me. That particular song introduces the audience to the dynamics of the Hansen and Murphy families, so cutting that important introduction to the characters felt like an odd choice.
Similarly, “Good For You,” a song near the end of act two which shows Evan’s lies beginning to unravel, was also missing from the film. This choice surprised me for similar reasons. Both of these songs contain perspectives from different characters other than Evan, so eliminating them is detrimental to the other characters. It forces the story to center around Evan and only Evan.
Due to Platt’s involvement in the Broadway production and the show’s development as a whole, a lot of the press about the film centers around him- for both positive and negative reasons. However, there were other performances in the film that I believe are noteworthy. Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Zoe Murphy (Connor’s sister and Evan’s love interest), brought a new depth to the role than I had seen on stage. Dever perfectly captured Zoe’s internal dilemma of wanting to grieve her brother but also not being able to forgive him for what he put her through. The internal struggle was clear in Dever’s portrayal of Zoe, which I found added another layer to the character.
As a whole, the show translated well from stage to screen. While the transition between dialogue and music was a bit clunky and awkward at times, I think the show benefitted from having the extended running time and added visuals that are hard to bring out on stage. New songs were added to give background and development to the minor characters that go neglected in the stage production, which I personally liked. Also, having the extended time to go more in-depth on some of the issues addressed in the plot added to the story.
Criticisms aside, I thought the film was a good stage-to-screen version of the show. Having that extra time to develop the characters and dive into the plot in more depth benefitted the show as a whole.
